By RUSSELL BENNETT
THE PAKENHAM GAZETTE’S EDFL EAST AND WEST TEAMS OF THE YEAR
BELIEVE us – the Ellinbank and District Football League split did nothing to make life easier when it came time to pick the Gazette teams of the year.
Let’s focus on the West. The likes of Brent Hughes, Brad Walker, Matt Krawczyk, Sean Marchetti, Paul Gramc and Ryan Hendy all missed out.
It would have been easy to follow the AFL All-Australian team selectors’ lead and pick players hideously out of position just to find them a spot. But that’s a cop-out.
It’s often the players who don’t make these sides that dictate their true strength.
Luke Walker, Ricky Clark and Ben Marsh have each been standout match-winning midfielders this season – edging out the likes of Hughes, Krawczyk and Marchetti. Brendan Hermann, Jeremy Monckton, Dylan Collis and Brady White are also automatic selections and made it impossible to pick Brad Walker or Paul Gramc.
Then there are the ‘breakthrough selections’ – players like Muratore, Slattery, Brown, Beswick, Cameron, McLeod and Tim Miller. They may not have been the first to spring to mind prior to Round 1 when predicting a 2014 team of the year but each had stellar seasons and were vital to their teams’ chances of success.
Only nine players of the West group represented the EDFL in its 89-point annihilation of Mid Gippsland in this year’s WorkSafe AFL Vic Country Championships – Craig Dyker, Tim Payne, Muratore, Monckton, Collis, Ryan Gillis, Owen Fitzpatrick, Luke Walker and Brendan Neville. But it’s worth keeping in mind that that the East team of the year squad (below) also contains 10 players who made the Ellinbank interleague team – Tye Holland, Daniel Johnson, Matt Gray, Joel Gibson, Kody Wilson, Semir Zijai, Bob McCallum, Shane Brewster, Tyson Bale and Harley Lacunes.
Between this year’s East and West line-ups, 11 players are returnees from last year’s team of the year – Dyker, Payne, Collis, Ryan Gillis, Walker, Johnson, Holland, Barrand, McCallum, Brewster and Lamb.
As for picking a captain and coach of the West team – which we think would comfortably beat the beasts of the East – Luke Walker and Travis Marsham are obvious selections.
Walker has been nothing short of sensational in an Alf Walton Medal-winning season – leading Kooweerup, which last season finished sixth, into the top two and a grand final spot.
Marsham, on the other hand, got the whole Cora Lynn list to buy into his style of play seemingly from the outset and recruited cunningly to have the Cobras sitting in the box seat for another premiership.
THE PAKENHAM GAZETTE’S EDFL WEST TEAM OF THE YEAR
B: Craig Dyker (Kooweerup), Tim Payne (Cora Lynn), Nathan Muratore (Cora Lynn)
HB: Ben Miller (Kooweerup), Jamie Ferguson (Garfield), Mat Slattery (Nar Nar Goon)
C: Brendan Hermann (Nar Nar Goon), Ben Marsh (Garfield), Jeremy Monckton (Cora Lynn)
HF: Dylan Collis (Garfield), Ash Brown (Garfield), Brady White (Cora Lynn)
F: Ryan Gillis (Cora Lynn), Owen Fitzpatrick (Catani), Rob Beswick (Kooweerup)
R: Brad Horaczko (Cora Lynn), Luke Walker (Kooweerup), Ricky Clark (Cora Lynn)
I/C from: Nathan Gillis (Cora Lynn), Matt Cameron (Kooweerup), Jeb McLeod (Bunyip), Jack Allen (Cora Lynn), Brendan Neville (Lang Lang), Tim Miller (Kooweerup)
COACH: Travis Marsham (Cora Lynn)
CAPTAIN: Luke Walker (Kooweerup)
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THE PAKENHAM GAZETTE’S EDFL EAST TEAM OF THE YEAR
B: Leigh Borland (Buln Buln), Nick Murray (Nilma Darnum), Ahmet Zijai (Longwarry)
HB: Dylan Heylen (Nyora), Nick Walsh (Longwarry), Josh Peterson (Warragul Industrials)
C: Shaun Phelan (Ellinbank), Tye Holland (Longwarry), Daniel Barrand (Ellinbank)
HF: Daniel Johnson (Warragul Industrials), Matt Gray (Buln Buln), Joel Gibson (Warragul Industrials)
F: Kody Wilson (Neerim Neerim South), Semir Zijai (Longwarry), Ilan Osman (Nyora)
R: Bob McCallum (Buln Buln), Shane Brewster (Warragul Industrials), Tyson Bale (Buln Buln)
I/C from: Zeke Lamb (Nilma Darnum), Brent Eastwell (Buln Buln), Carlton Helliwell (Buln Buln), Josh Bourke (Longwarry), Harley Lacunes (Nilma Darnum), Clint Rowe (Poowong)
COACH: Paul Alger (Buln Buln)
CAPTAIN: Shane Brewster (Warragul Industrials)
